Experiement
by azazemon
Summary: Amon is gone, but the equalists still roam the city in secret, now guided by a new enemy, an enemy with ties to a stranger who was washed ashore at the airtemple. Will this stranger be Team Avatar's salvation, or undoing?
1. Chapter 1

A man in a white labcoat walked down a long, dimly lit hall. His eyes were buried in the clipboard he held in one hand, while his other hand held his glasses straight. When he got to the end of the hall he turned his attention towards the scanner on the side of the door. He removed his glasses and stared directly into the scanner, where a blue light flashed for a split second.

"Welcome, Professor Yun." A female voice said.

A series of clicks signaled that the door was unlocked, and Professor Yun walked through. The scene changed to a large room full of pods, with three sitting in the middle. Other scientists had their eyes either buried in their computer screen, or staring at the pods, having mild conversations with each other. Professor Yun proceeded to the three pods in the center of the room, where a large, bald man in a black coat stood.

"You're late, Professor." he said in a condescending tone.

"My apologies Commander Mintz, but these tests cannot be rushed. We have to make sure that these trials won't-"

"Spare me the details Professor. I'm here to make sure you and your team of geeks aren't wasting The Company's money. In short, they want results, tangible results." Commander Mintz said turning to face him. His face had a scar that extended from the top of his right eyebrow to the bottom of his jaw, passing directly through his eye. Instead of an eye however, there was a mechanical one with a bright, red light that gave a subtle pulse.

"Well Commander, with Amon now out of the picture it's been rather difficult to win over the equalists and keep these tests going. We can't achieve The Company's goal if we don't get their support as well as these experiments completed." Professor Yun said straightening his glasses.

"Fine, release subject 5." Commander Mintz ordered.

"Commander! Subject 5 is the most unstable one! He's resisted most, if not all sedatives and agents we've attempted to put into him to make him more complient. What do you intend to do? Beat him into submission?" Professor Yun asked in alarm.

"Exactly. These poor souls are nothing more than property, pets if you will. Like any animal you own, you need to give them a strong hand of discipline to keep them in line. Now, release him." Commander Mintz ordered again, adding a hard stare at Professor Yun.

"Commander, the chemicals and methods we used to enhance Subject 5's firebending has made him far stronger than we could have realized. If something were to go wrong, he could level this entire facility. If this is the route you want to take I highly suggest we inform The Board to see-"

"Professor Yun, I am telling you one more time, to release Subject 5. Failure to do so will result in...liquidation." Commander Mintz said with a sinister smile. The red light in his right eye now grew brighter.

Professor Yun sighed,"Don't say I didn't warn you." He walked over to the microphone,"All nonessential personnel, please exit the room. Subject 5 is being released. Security level is now Delta. I repeat: All nonessential personnel, exit the room. Subject 5 is being released. Security level is now Delta."

After waiting for everyone to clear the room, Professor Yun, with a shaking hand, pressed the release button. The middle pod in within the three in the center of the room was slowly raised by a large metal arm under it, and placed in front of Commander Mintz. The pod door rose up and revealed a dark-skinned male, around the age of 18, wearing a black, arm-less hooded sweater with silver trimmings, black pants with a red fire nation symbol on the right leg, tucked into ankle-high black boots with silver laces. A seried of tubes pumping strange colored liquids were attached to nearly every park of him not covered in clothing. After the door stopped rising, the tubes stopped pumping and quickly withdrew from him. With nothing to hold him in place, his limp form simply fell forward. After a moment of silence, he began to wake up, gold eyes staring dizzily around the room.

"What is your name?" Commander Mintz asked coldly.

Subject 5 didn't answer, instead he attempted to stand up.

"Answer me! What is your name?" Commander Mintz now yelled and threw a punch at him.

In an instance all the dizziness and nausea disappeared as Subject 5 quickly caught his fist. Standing up, he stared menacingly into Commander Mintz's eyes.

"My name, is Nori." He said defiantly and threw Commander Mintz's arm aside.

Commander Mintz used the moment to deliver a roundhouse kick to Nori's face, but Nori effortlessly dodged it and followed up by kicking Commander Mintz's supporting leg, causing him to fall. Nori used that chance to run past him and straight to the door. He encased himself in fire and suddenly stopped, sending a blazing silhouette of himself at the door, blowing if off his hinges. He quickly dove forward to avoid the pillar Commander Mintz earthbent to knock him off guard, and ran down the hallway.

Professor Yun quickly got to the microphone,"Code Red! I repeat Code Red! Subject 5 has escaped! I repeat Subject 5 has escaped! Base Lockdown! Echelon 5! I repeat, we are now at Echelon 5!"

Commander Mintz quickly ran down the hall after Nori,"Keep me informed on his whereabouts at all time!" He yelled.

Professor Yun shook his head,"Fool."

Nori ran through a few doors before they began sealing the off using large metal ones. As he turned the corner we was greeted by a group of five guards, who wasted no time in shooting long, metal wires that wrapped around him, then produced an electric shock that brought him to his knees.

"This is Commander Mintz. Do not use any fire or electric-based weapons on the target. Again, do not use any fire or electric-based weapons on the target." Commander Mintz's voice came from the one of the guards radio on his shoulder. They all looked at each other, then back at Nori in horror as he rose up, and with a smirk encased himself in lightning before punching his hands together, sending a powerful wave of electrictiy out in all directions, shocking the guards and overpowering ever device in the area. He cut off the the wires from two of the guns and wrapped them around his arms,"These will come in handy."

"Commander Mintz, subject 5 has reached the upper level; he's nearly at the front door." Professor Yun said.

"How did he get there that fast? Where are the guards?" Commander Mintz demanded.

"Will all due respect Commander, did you honestly think they'd be a match for him when he threw you aside so easily?" Professor Yun asked with contemptous sarcasm.

"Watch your tone Yun. I have no qualms going through with my previous threat." Commander Mintz responded indignantly. He quickly made his way outside and witnessed Nori channeling electricity through the wires he had wrapped around his arms and using them like whips to knock groups of guards out of the way. Commander Mintz used his hand to hold open his eyelid as the mechanical red eye's pulsing increased before it lit up and released a red laser. Nori quickly jumped out of the way, but couldn't clear the blast zone and was thrown through a few crates. He quickly got back up and dashed for cover as another laser beam made a crater out of his previous spot. Nori aimed his fists at the ground and used his firebending to propel himself over the wall of the facility and ran into the forest.

"OPEN THE GATE! FIND HIM!" Commander Mintz roared as he knocked a guard off a motocycle and gave chase along with the other guards.

Nori ran blindly through the forest, not turning to look or slowing down. He knew they wouldn't be far behind him, and he needed to get away fast.

"Commander, he's heading towards the cliff." Professor Yun said through a radio attached to the motorcycle.

"Then we have him cornered." Commander Mintz smiled.

Nori suddenly came to a clearing with a cliff not far from the forestline. He stopped, only for a moment, then ran for the cliff's edge. Commander Mintz emerged not far behind him.

"NO!" he yelled jumping off the motorcycle and stomping the ground, causing a wall to suddenly emerge in front of Nori, who used his firebending to once again propel himself over it. Commander Mintz's eye pulsed again, but this time Nori was ready. In midair he turned around and shot a bolt of lightning at Commander Mintz, who fired the laser as well. Both shots met midway and caused an explosion that sent Commander Mintz a few feet back into the forest, and Nori over the edge of the cliff. Commander Mintz quickly got back up and ran to the cliff's edge, looking wildly around for the any signs of Nori in the water.

"I want every available man searching the water in a 20 mile radius now!" he ordered to the first guard that cleared the forest line.

"Yes Sir!"

"Commander, has Subject 5 been recovered?" Professor Yun asked eagerly.

"No, but he won't get far."

"We cannot afford to lose him Commander. If he ends up meeting the Avatar-"

"I know very well what information he can divulge to her Yun; that is why it is imperative that we get a search party out now." Commander Mintz barked.

"Along with that, The Board has requested an explanation over the recent security measures Commander. What will you tell them?"

Commander Mintz sighed,"I'll tell those clowns what happened, and that the situation is already under control. Continue with your tests Professor; if this does get out of hand, we'll need to speed this little project up asap."

"Yes Commander. Professor Yun out."

Commander Mintz stared out into the ocean,"You can't run forever boy. However, your escape might be just what we needed," he added with a sinister grin.

Korra awoke with a start, then quickly shielded her eyes from the morning sun.

"You don't look so well today Korra. Is everything alright?" Tenzin asked as Korra came down the stairs for breakfast.

"I had the weirdest dream about some guy in a pod who escaped from some other guy with a firebending-laser-eye thingy who was also an earthbender and the guy in the pod used his firebending to fly kinda..."

"Uh-huh..." Tenzin said with a raised eyebrow.

"Anyway...what's for breakfast?"

"Rice" Tenzin said with a smile.

"Would it kill you to have some tofu around here or something?" Korra asked in aggravation.

After breakfast, Korra went to find Mako, who she saw training with Borin in the courtyard.

"Finally up eh?" Mako said with a smile.

"Good morning to you too." Korra said with a playful smile before giving him a kiss.

"You know, there are dozens of rooms here you guys can pick out for that." Bolin said.

"I'm guessing you guys aren't out here practicing for the fun of it are you?" Korra asked.

"Nope. Since they're rebuilding the probending arena in republic city, we figured we should get some practice in for next season. With those wolfbats out of the way, we'll win for sure! Unless you give Tahno his bending back." Bolin said.

"Huh...hadn't really thought of that. I mean, it's the right thing to do right?" Korra asked, looking at the sky in contemplation.

"Only if he promises not to cheat." Mako added.

"Not sure he'll keep that promise. Unless you threaten to take his bending away again." Bolin said happily.

"Too soon Bolin. That wouldn't make me any better than Amon." Korra said.

"Well you wouldn't be declaring war on benders, just probending cheaters. It's like being an illegal ref who does the right things others might not consider so right." Bolin said with smile.

"Wouldn't that make it illegal?" Make asked.

"No."

"Not that I'm opposed to the topic of returning bending to their rightful benders, but let's go see how long it'll take before the arena's completion. At least then we'll have a time limit on how much we should train beforehand." Korra offered.

"I'm cool with that, let's do it." Mako said.

As they headed down to the dock, something by the rocks caught Korra's attention. Walked down the beach and noticed someone laying on the ground. Upon closer inspection she suddenly stopped and stared in horror at the person before her. Dark skin, marks on his arms along with wires wrapped around his forearms. A black, sleeveless hooded sweater with silver trimmings, black pants with a red fire nation symbol on the right leg, tucked into ankle-high black boots with silver laces. His face and arms had scratches, bruises and burns, almost like he was hit by an explosion.

"Oh man, what happened to this guy?" Bolin asked catching up with Korra and a silent Mako.

"C'mon, we need to get him upstairs pronto!" Korra said in alarm as Mako picked him up.

_Could that've been more than just a dream? _she thought.


	2. Chapter 2

They rushed him to the infirmary, where Korra wasted no time in using her healing abilities to mend whatever wounds he had.

"Is he going to be all right?" Mako asked.

"Who is this guy anyway?" Bolin chimed in.

"What's all this commotion about?" Tenzin asked running into the infirmary.

"I'm not sure, I don't know, and we just found this guy unconscious by the docks." Korra answered all three questions.

Tenzin looked him over and noticed the wires around his arms,"Korra, didn't you dream about this young man?"

"Wait what?" Mako and Bolin exclaimed.

"I didn't mean like that!" Tenzin quickly corrected himself.

"I don't...I mean it doesn't...doesn't make sense. I have no idea how long ago this might have happened, and right now he needs medical attention. We can figure this out after he wakes up." Korra said ignoring their stares.

"Korra, if this boy was in this dream of yours then it's best we get every detail of what you saw. It would benefit us to know who-" Tenzin's sentence was cut short, for as soon as Korra began to remove Nori's wires from his arms, his eyes shot open. He quickly knocked her hand away and kicked her to the side, then leapt off the the bed and with one glance took in his surroundings.

"Calm down buddy. No one's gonna hurt-" Bolin didn't get to finish before Nori jumped out the window.

He aimed his fists towards the ground and used his firebending to slow his descent, landing in front of Jinora, Ikki and Meelo.

"Cool! I've never seen firebending like that before! How'd you do that? Was it hard? Did it make you tired? You look tired." Ikki said with a cheerful smile.

"Ikki! Get away from him!" Lin said running in front of the three,"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Wait Lin! Don't attack him!" Tenzin yelled running up with Korra, Bolin, Mako and Asami.

"I don't know Tenzin, this guy doesn't look like he wants to come quietly. That kick hurt by the way bub." Korra said in agitation.

"Back off." Nori warned.

"Or what? If you haven't noticed, you're fighting the Avatar, a master airbender, one of the best earthbenders this side of republic city, and two probending champs Mako, and me, the incredible Bolin." Bolin said with pride.

Nori's unblinking gaze fell upon Korra,"The Avatar eh?" his eyes narrowed.

"He doesn't look very intimidated." Asami said.

"We'll just have to change that then." Korra said.

"Young man, we don't want to fight you. We only want to talk. Surely we can resolve this with absolutely no violence." Tenzin pleaded to everyone.

"No...there will only be violence master airbender. Let's see if you are truly prepared for it." Nori said pointing at Korra.

"I'm fine with that. Let's go." Korra said throwing a ball of fire at him.

Nori stood still and let the flames engulf him.

"Korra enough!" Tenzin said in alarm.

Korra stopped, a look of horror on her face.

"He...he just stood there." Asami said, sharing the shocked look on everyone's face. Their shock was soon replaced with horror as the flames began to die down and the figure within began to move. Nori walked out of the flames, but still somewhat covered in it. The flames still on him however gave no sign of burning either his skin or clothing.

With a sinister grin he glared at Korra,"Avatar Korra, you seen surprised."

"Not everyday I meet someone who can do that Korra." Korra said,"We need to cool you off," she added waterbending a nearby pond and sending the wave after him. In an instant the flames around Nori traveled straight to his fists, then dug into the ground. The resulting explosion launched him into the air, where he then shot a bolt of lightning at Korra, who effortlessly dogdged it and sent an airbending kick, catching Nori in the air and sending him to the ground. As Korra prepared her next attack Nori quickly jumped up and performed a series of firebending punches and kicks, ending it with another bolt of lightning, all of which Korra either blocked or dodged. She planted her feet and punched her fist forward, causing a pillar of earth to rise and strike Nori in the chest and knocking him back. She followed up by kicking the pillar, sending it straight towards him. The wires on Nori's fists suddenly charged with electricity, and he proceeded to shatter the rock with one powerful punch. Korra emerged from the smoke of the rubble with a water whip aimed at him, but Nori was prepared. He quickly brought his fists together, sending out an electric wave that knocked Korra to the ground and temporarily paralyzed her. Nori used that time to uncoil the wires around his arms with the intent to use them as whips. He raised his arms to strike at the disabled Avatar but quickly punched the his right, sending out a fireball to cancel out Mako's.

"This doesn't concern you urchin." Nori sneered.

"Well consider me concerned. You've done enough." Mako said standing on front of Korra, who began to regain her strength.

"So be it. I have no qualms crushing you as well." Nori said swinging his electrified whips at him. Before Mako could even dodge however, Nori was knocked into a wall by a powerful airblast from Tenzin. His metal whips then bound his hands as the earth rose to pin him to the wall.

Nori didn't struggle; instead he looked around at the current situation.

"You all seem to work well together." he added with a malevolent glare at Tenzin,"Striking when I least expect it from an angle I wouldn't see it coming."

"You left me no choice young man. I won't sit idly by while you all tear up the temple." Tenzin said defensively.

"Now that we've got him in one place, let's begin with the questions shall we?" Lin proposed folding her arms and giving him a stern look.

"Let start with a name." Make suggested.

"Yeah, who are you?" Bolin asked.

"His name is Subject 5 (Nori's left eye twitched), but he called himself Nori in my dream." Korra declared folding her arms,"Am I right?"

Nori suddenly looked alarmed,"How do you know me?"

"I had a dream, or maybe it was a vision, of you escaping from some facility last night. That guy who was chasing you-"

"Commander Mintz." Nori said in disgust.

"Yeah him, he said that if you meeting me puts their plans in jeopardy."

"I'm not sure how. I'm practically a glorified, super-charged foot soldier." Nori admitted.

"You're stronger than most benders I've faced. I've never seen firebending like that, especially with those whips." Korra said.

"It's skills that took days of training and hours of experimentation to perfect." Nori said with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"You don't seem too happy about it."

"Hmm...put your ear to my chest and tell me what you hear." Nori said.

"That won't be necessary." Mako said with a glare.

"Fine urchin, you do it then."

"Enough with the nicknames Subject 5." Mako said chidingly.

Nori gave him a murderous stare,"Don't think for a second that I can't break from these bonds and-"

"Enough." Tenzin interrupted and put his ear to Nori's chest. He heard Nori's heart beat for a few seconds then nothing. After a few more seconds, his heartbeats continued, then suddenly stopped,"Your heart. I don't understand."

"It's the power of the technology The Company possesses. If my body were to biologically die, the trillions of nanobots in my body will keep everything working as though it were still alive. You could impale my chest, and I would merely pull out whatever weapon you used as though it did nothing. The bots will then proceed to repair any and all damage to my body so long as it's still connected."

"So you'd die if we say," Bolin made a slicing movement across his neck.

"No, my head would still function, and if I'm close enough to my own body I can reattach myself."

"Cause that's not disturbing at all." Asami said.

"The Company, let's talk more about that." Lin suggested.

"There's nothing really to talk about. They're an illusive organization that deals in every sort on underhanded sneakiness you could imagine."

"For a glorified soldier you seem to know alot." Lin said with a raised eyebrow.

"Compared to information that would actually give you an upper-hand, this is minimal at best."

"Lin, you can release him now. I don't think we'll be having another altercation, will we?" Tenzin asked with a stern look.

"No, I've seen all that I need to." Nori said.

"Don't think this is a good idea but whatever." Lin said waving an arm to the side. The whips loosened and the earth around him fell.

"What are their plans concerning the Avatar?" Tenzin asked.

"It's the goal of two other subjects, along with myself, to capture the Avatar."

"Why did we release this guy again?" Bolin asked with concern.

"You seemed intent on doing worse than capture her." Mako said.

"He's not as obedient as the other ones." Korra said.

"Otherwise I would have done it when I first awoken."

"You didn't know who she was until I said something." Bolin said skeptically.

"I could sense it."

"One more of your special skills I take it?" Korra asked.

"Among others, but yes. After Avatar Aang passed, The Company invested many resources to find the identity of the next Avatar. It's pretty ironic how long it took them; you seem pretty outspoken about it."

"You can say that again." Lin said.

"When they couldn't find you, they ran experiments using captured benders to see if there was a way to track benders based on the energy that enables them to bend. How they succeeded is a mystery, even to most of the scientists involved."

"Hard to believe anyone possesses technology like that." Asami said disbeleivingly."My father was one of the greatest inventors of this time-"

"And the toys he invented wouldn't even hold a match to the monstrosities The Company creates. The source of their technology is a heavily guarded secret. Only people as high as Commander Mintz would have any knowledge of their full potential."

"How do we know you don't have a tracking device or something that would lead them to us?" Asami asked, arousing concerned glances.

"Whenever I charge my fists and bring them together, the electrical wave also acts like an electromagnetic pulse. Whatever devices they had on me were disabled during my escape. If they want to find me, they'll send either subject 12 or 21 after me."

"There are more like you?" Tenzin asked, horrified.

"Not really...well, 12, 21 and myself are more human than the rest of them, but only we've been conditioned to take down the avatar. Subject 12 is a female airbender, and Subject 21 is a male waterbender."

"No earthbenders?" Lin asked.

"Commander Mintz." Nori and Korra said simultaneously, Korra receiving surprised looks from everyone,"I saw him bending in the dream. Figured it was him."

"How long do you think it'll be before those other two find you?" Lin asked.

"With no tracking device on me, however long I can lay low and keep out of site. The Avatar, on the other hand, won't take long; Amon's defeat at your hands pretty much put this city in their sites for your capture."

"Great. What are we supposed to do now? We've got three more of these guys and who knows what coming here." Bolin said in despair.

"And the city isn't even fully rebuilt yet." Asami added.

"I have a suggestion, if I'm allowed to make one." Nori said humbly.

"I'm all ears." Korra said.

"Whatever they're planning still involves the equalists. We should go into town and see if we can find anyone who might know something."

"We don't even know what we should know." Mako said.

"Commander Mintz. With my escape, and the knowledge that the Avatar is in Republic City, I'm sure either he, or someone of equal importance is here to start pulling strings. If we move now, we can make them panic, which is what we want."

"I'm not sure I follow." Tenzin sounded unsure.

"Ultimately, all their power comes from science. You can't rush science, otherwise you end up with something that'll always fail. If we act now, and show that we're commited to unraveling their plans, we can cause them to either start making mistakes, making it easier for us to beat them, or abandon some experiments in the interests of concentrating more on keeping us at bay, which can ensure we don't meet too many surprises."

"Get them before they get us. I like it!" Bolin exclaimed.

"Wait, how do we even know we can trust this guy? He did just say he was made to capture Korra." Mako said.

"Because if what that vision I had is true, we do need to take these guys out as fast as we can. I don't like the idea of fighting more people like him, especially if any more of them have mechanical lazer eyes." Korra said.

"Then we should get started right away." Tenzin said.

Commander Mintz stood in front of the empty pod, his mechanical eye darting in all directions.

"I take it The Board didn't take to kindly to your explanation?" Proffessor Yun asked as he walked a up, a superior grin on his face.

Commander Mintz didn't turn around,"They want us to speed up and capture the Avatar now."

Professor Yun's grin quickly vanished,"Without Subject 5? He was the strongest! With him out there-"

"They made it clear that while Subject 5 is unaccounted for our plans are now in jeopardy and need to be put in motion now. Subjects 12 and 21 will be more than enough for the Avatar and her band of merry misfits."

Professor Mintz went to a nearby console and pressed the release button. Both pods were placed on either side of the middle pod and opened. Out of the right one came a young girl around the age of 17. She had fair skin and black hair that went to the small of her back. She wore a black hooded robe with a silver sash around her waist with black, knee high boots. Her eyes were brown, and lifeless. There was a number 21 on the left side of her neck.

Out of the left one came a yound man also around the same age. His head was shaved and he wore traditional southern water tribe garments without the coat. His eyes were blue, and also lifeless. On his right arm was the number 12.

"One of your brethren has recently escaped, and has yet to be recovered. Your mission, is to go to Republic City, and capture the Avatar. If you encounter Subject 5, either subdue or destroy him, but the Avatar is your primary objective." Commander Mintz said.

"Yes sir." They responded in unison.


End file.
